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One of the easiest most versatile ways of cooking is roasting vegetables. You'd be amazed at what 20-40 minutes in the good ol' oven can do to vegetables. We're talking crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, warm, comforting, and nourishing real foods. What could be better?! I almost always have a mixture of roasted veggies in our fridge, either prepared to roast…

You may have noticed that almost every time I post one of my child’s lunches on Facebook quite a few readers leave comments such as…”Where’s the protein?” or “I personally need a lot more protein to feel full” or even “My kid wouldn’t have enough energy to get through the day if I don’t give …

Hi there, this is Lisa Leake from 100DaysofRealFood.com and Vani Hari from FoodBabe.com. We recently discovered that several American food products contain harmful additives that are not used – and in some cases banned – in other countries. One of those products is an iconic staple that almost every American, us included, has had at one time or another: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. In…

As I mentioned in a “school lunch” post last year, my daughter’s elementary school is peanut/tree nut-free. Not only are peanuts and tree nuts not allowed, but foods made in factories that handle nuts are not allowed either. As a result, the school sends out a “safe snack” list so parents know what store-bought snacks …

When I first learned that the whole low-fat campaign was pretty much a hoax I was absolutely shocked as well. For years I was right there on that bandwagon bingeing on everything from low-fat Snackwells cookies to fat-free flavored yogurt to low-fat ice cream. And as it turns out, according to Michael Pollan, “We’ve gotten …

The other day my 9-year-old was hungry for a snack, and after rummaging through the kitchen she said, “Mom, do we have any muffins anywhere?” That girl loves some muffins, and if she’s really hungry she’ll try to eat two in a row (or even three!) some days. So she was thrilled today when she came …

One thing is for certain - croutons are just all around good stuff. And thankfully homemade croutons are super easy to make with whole-wheat sandwich bread and SO yummy. Talk about an extra special and unexpected addition to your dinner salad. My kids go nuts over these things, and I honestly have to do what I can to stop them from just eating this…

Today Vani (aka Food Babe) and I are appearing on the Dr. Oz Show - be sure to tune in! It's been a little over one week since we started a petition to remove artificial food dyes from Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. We have over 228,000 signatures and, while we heard from Kraft right after the petition launched, it was not the response we…

Summer is a great time to experiment with different fruits and veggies because there are so many in season. They are great to have by themselves as a snack, but sometimes it is fun to add a little of this or a little of that and come up with a yummy fruit or veggie creation.

In a mere 36 hours our petition asking Kraft to remove artificial food dyes from their line of macaroni and cheese has gone viral and now has more than 170,000 signatures. I am so taken aback by the instant and widespread media attention on this topic, which I think indicates how this much-needed change in our Food Industry has been imminent for some time.…

For the last few years, we've gone around the table and asked each other questions from my childhood dinners such as, "What was the best thing that happened to you today? The worst thing?" But then I got the idea that our family dinner conversation might also be a fabulous time to discuss something even more meaningful like character traits.

This post is coming to you from somewhere in California while my husband drives our family from Yosemite National Park to our next RV Trip destination (Big Sur)! A trip out west in an RV with the kids has been on our bucket list for quite some time now, and we are finally carrying out …

A lot of readers have been asking me lately what kind of vitamins my kids take and the answer is…none at all. Vitamins aren’t necessarily harmful or going to cause medical problems when they’re used properly, but it’s not something we personally choose to deal with (or pay for). First of all, we pretty much …

Thank you for contributing to our more than 4 million pageviews in 2011…it was certainly an exciting year! Below were the most popular blog posts and recipes. Please leave a comment with what you’d like to see in 2012. Top 10 Blog Posts of 2011 Free “Real Food” Meal Plans Real Food Tips: 10 …

During our “100 Days of Real Food Pledge” we avoided all packaged foods containing more than five ingredients as well as all refined grains, sugar, and deep-fried foods. We borrowed this rule directly from Michael Pollan’s book Food Rules. Here’s his take on this guideline: “Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients. The specific …

It was a record year on the blog with over 45 million page views in total - WOW! I love to see so many people taking an interest in kicking highly processed food to the curb. So, in case you're wondering, the list below summarizes what readers were most interested in this year.

Essential oils seem to be all the rage these days. If you're wondering what they do and how to use them, this is for you! Today we're partnering with our sponsor Plant Therapy to give away some free essential oil sets and share their top 5 oils and kid safe synergies for summer.

I love coming across other bloggers who are on the same page as we are when it comes to “real food.” I recently “met” Stephanie Langford who runs a beautifully put together blog called Keeper of the Home. Stephanie is a jack-of-all-trades, but one of her specialties is how to buy and eat real food …

Before I dive into this post I want to ask you to please watch Food, Inc.. Even if you have watched it before…watch it again! This is a very easy way to learn a lot in a mere 91 minutes of your life. And hopefully you will join us with a completely renewed perspective when it comes …

I have a super exciting giveaway for you today...stocking stuffers for your little ones and something not too shabby for mommy (or daddy) too!! If your kids are into those little snack pouches that have recently taken the food industry by storm (I know mine are), then you'll love the idea of making your own at home. What's not to love about using your…

The other day I saw a “real food” blogger giving away a tub of “organic ghee” to one lucky reader. I said to my husband, “What in the heck is ghee and why would anyone want it?” I thought that blogger sounded a lot more “hard core” than me about eating naturally…admittedly because I didn’t …

As I’ve said before, it is not necessarily the sugar itself (yes, white sugar is technically “natural” albeit highly refined), but it is the quantity in which our society consumes sugar that concerns me. What have things come to if we can’t even have a cracker or a bowl of cereal or a beverage unless …

Long before I'd even given processed food or real food a thought, I'd heard about the supposed dangers of nitrites and nitrates. But really, how many of us actually know what a nitrate or nitrite is and exactly why it's something we should avoid in the first place?

Today I wanted to share one of Blake’s favorite “Clean Cuisine” recipes and show you how I go about giving a British food favorite, Cottage Pie, an anti-inflammatory real food makeover. The three things I did to my Cottage Pie recipe to boost flavor, improve nutrition, and reduce inflammation were really rather simple.

Just in time for Cinco de Mayo, I am excited to share a super simple and delicious mango salsa recipe inspired by my daughter! But, before we get into how to make this dish, let's discuss how exactly to cut a mango in the first place.

Aside from all the blog work our team members do to keep this site going round, each person has their own special real food talents and knowledge as well. After all, that's what brought us all together in the first place (well, except for me and my husband of course. That was actually a fraternity party in college and a story for another day!).…

If you've just gone to the grocery store and it still looks like there's no food in your house but instead only ingredients, then you're doing something right! If you're avoiding factory-made food, it's up to you to turn those ingredients into something edible, and today I'm sharing an easy way to do just that with food prep suggestions and storage information.

There are millions of blogs out there so last month I asked my facebook fans what other “real food” blogs they follow (and possibly even write themselves). Some of these blogs aren’t solely about real food, but they’re obviously doing something right to be inspiring others. So without further ado…here’s the list! And feel free …

One quote from Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food pretty much says it all when it comes to artificial sweeteners, flavors and colors: One of the problems with the products of food science is that, as Joan Gussow has pointed out, they lie to your body; their artificial colors and flavors and synthetic sweeteners and …

My Cookbooks

I’m so excited to share all the info with you about the three cookbooks in my 100 Days of Real Food series. Each cookbook is unique and features its own content, from breaking down the science behind grains, to providing…